Newly-released sandbox journey sport Hytale originated as a Minecraft mod, Hypixel, solely to finally be spun off and remodeled into the early entry, standalone sport we now know. Besides, I do not assume anybody had “Minecraft x Hytale crossplay” on their Bingo card.
Bedrock / Pocket <-> @Hytale <-> Java pic.twitter.com/RCBsbRtjd3
— iamcxv7 (@iamcxv711) January 19, 2026
This wizardry comes from modder u/ssquadteam, also referred to as iamcxv7, a 15-year-old modder who has additionally managed to get issues like Windows 95 running in Hytale and, separate from the man who did it pre-launch, Doom. iamcxv7 has managed to determine how to get Hytale and Minecraft to speak to each other in order that gamers in a single can play alongside gamers within the different, seeing each other’s characters rendered in their very own sport’s type, work together, construct, chat, and even struggle each other.
What. On. Earth. How? I am not savvy sufficient to parse the technicalities behind this, however here’s iamcxv7’s explanation for it: “It is all simply Packet Trickery. You might say I’m operating a Minecraft Server within the Hytale JVM which makes use of the Coordinate System of the Hytale World (As its the identical) In addition to takes a Snapshot of the Hytale World and reconstructs it and then ship it to to the Shopper by way of Packets”
However a bit extra merely, what’s cool right here is that Hytale and Minecraft are so related in how their worlds are constructed and what sorts of issues they invite gamers to try this gameplay in a single can simply map to the opposite. There’s nonetheless some work to do: the mod is not public but, as iamcxv7 says it is nonetheless “actually unstable” and there are some options, corresponding to world era and how to render sure blocks that exist in Hytale however not Minecraft, nonetheless lacking. Provided that Hytale is simply per week previous, this feels extraordinarily cheap! The truth that that is going to be attainable in any respect is brain-breaking sufficient.
Hypixel Studios co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme shared an replace as we speak, saying that saving the sport after it was dropped by Riot Video games final yr was “essentially the most difficult however rewarding expertise of my life.” Beforehand, Collins-LaFlamme had called the game’s salvaging a “damn miracle” after years of improvement, scope enhance, and delays. Prior to the launch, Collins-Laflamme mentioned that Hytale had already made sufficient cash to cowl the following two years of improvement. And people subsequent two years stand to be busy ones, with Hypixel already engaged on Replace 2 for the sport later this week.
In case you’re heading into Hytale, try IGN’s complete Hytale Development Information for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to get copper, thorium, adamantite, and extra. To get round Hytale’s Zones and Biomes quick, you may want to know the way to arrange and use teleporters – and if you would like to experiment with what the sandbox sport can do, use Hytale instructions to bend actuality to your will, or set up Hytale mods to add new creations to your sport.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Acquired a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.